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Story:Kings of Strife/Part 20
Part Twenty Within just six days, Vainia and Taoris had cemented themselves amongst the Fifth Brine faction as heavily as if they had been with their efforts for weeks. The people of Fifth Brine were initially reluctant to welcome her and her guardian, but found themselves bending to change after seeing the explosive extent of Vainia’s ambition – and the success it brought them. Also known as the “Reclaimers of the Sea”, Fifth Brine was named for it being the fifth large-scale rebel group created in Shorica’s known history. The first originated hundreds of years in the past; ever since, each group decreased naturally in strength and relevance. As Santus had told Vainia and Taoris, Fifth Brine was just barely holding onto its cause, and it was close to total demise. Fifth Brine, as did all previous Shorican rebellion groups, protested the weakening of Shorica’s national power and its complacence with encroaching Inusian influence. It only had a strong hold in two major cities of the nation, Phenicks and Shorekeep. Only Phenicks still existed free of Inusian influence, and even that was temporary. As if from divine timing, Phenicks was set to have a new governor appointed a week after Vainia and Taoris arrived in Phenicks, and this new governor would be the final one in the entire nation chosen by Inusian-paid senators. A political future that benefitted Inusia meant it was backed by Inusian muscle. For weeks, Fifth Brine had sent spies and protesters across Shorica and northern Inusia, and most of them had been slaughtered or gone missing. The group had no choice but to continue its efforts, but the message was clear to all involved – they could not stop the juggernaut empire of Inusia from making Shorica its puppet, and if they tried, they would be easily swept aside. Santus, as well as the rest of Fifth Brine, accepted this as a reality. Their ideals were worth dying for until the very last – and that was what made Vainia appeal to them so strongly. From the very beginning, young Vainia Sestrum had been ambitious, spirited, and openly critical of Fifth Brine’s methods. She completely revised the ways they spread their messages, made it a point to know almost every member just to scold them on where they were slacking in ‘revolutionary power’, and drew lines and symbols all over every map of Shorica that was available in the group’s headquarters in Phenicks. Though she was loud, stubborn, and prone to commanding those with much higher influence then her, even leader Santus had to admit that her abilities made up for these character flaws. Simply put, Vainia got results. Within two days, after the week’s protesters and public speakers had become more secretive yet hot-blooded in their speaking, all of the agents came back alive. Not only that, but they brought fresh faces and new recruits with them after every day. This was completely unheard of, and Santus found himself ridiculously impressed. Gin Taoris, unlike all of the other Fifth Brine operatives, seemed to accept and even expect such impossible results from Vainia. Perhaps Vainia’s most important and popular change was her plan to storm the Phenicks city hall on the day of the new governor’s inauguration. The point at which the appointment could be stopped had long since passed, so Vainia proposed that Fifth Brine form a mob, break into the city hall, and force the appointment to cease. The idea was so rash, dangerous, and out of character for the group that it was perfectly unpredictable. Santus, along with the rest of Fifth Brine, agreed with the plan almost instantly. Although his budding respect for Vainia as a leader rose when she proposed the attack three days into her stay with the group, Santus began to see her with wariness and unease, especially when she mentioned that the amount of casualties suffered did not matter to her at all. Charlie, Santus’ assistant, had calculated that the appointment would likely have armed Inusian guards, so that any sort of assault would surely result in the deaths of many, not to mention any innocent bystanders who would not be evacuated in the name of secrecy. Vainia’s answer was only to come up with a secret postulate of the plan – that she, Taoris, Santus, and Charlie break into the city hall building from behind as the main force attacked, allowing them to perform the coup d'état without delay. She had absolutely no regard for the sacrifices of the Fifth Brine members, Santus could tell; he was sure that Taoris was also aware of this. But Santus held his tongue and said nothing of this realization of his. ‘Results are results,’ he assured himself, ‘and we have been grateful slaves of Inusia for too long.’ ***** On the day of the appointment and coup, the winds were slow and hollow, as if they eagerly anticipated the event in the same way that Fifth Brine did. The entire populace went about their day in bated breath, sure that the notorious revolutionary group would act, but completely ignorant of their chosen tactics. All government officers had been silent and made no public appearances for the entire day; they were all either hoarded up inside city hall or abstaining from attending the ceremony. Fifth Brine was outfitted and equipped with their entire inventory of smuggled weapons, and they filled various inns and warehouses around Phenicks’ main street that led to its city hall. As predicted, legions of blue-cloaked Inusian soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder on the front steps to city hall, all armed and waiting for action. The entire city waited for the toll of the city’s clock tower to signal noon; that was when the appointment would begin, and that was when the people of Fifth Brine were instructed to rush to the massive capitol building and inflict chaos. The clock tower stood some blocks behind city hall, and was the tallest building in the city. On the top floor of the grand tower, above the eponymous clock and beneath an open roof along with the skies, stood Vainia Sestrum, dressed in the pristine uniform of Zeta Academy. She had her arms crossed and her hair down, and she looked down at the city in front of her with glazed, thoughtful eyes. Behind her, footsteps echoed on the metallic stairs that led up to the rooftop. Vainia knew who her visitor was, and she did not move in anticipation. When the visitor arrived, their footsteps slowly tapped towards her, loud and imposing. “You’re up rather early, Taoris.” She did not turn to look back at him. “I would not oversleep on a day of bloodshed.” The Crimson Death hardly ever slept, and when he did it was in short, alert bursts. Vainia often wondered how his body was so powerful and never seemed to need rest. “Are you prepared, my queen? Noon is less than thirty minutes away.” Vainia did not answer immediately. Even though she stood in front of him, directly beneath the sun, the Mortisian girl’s shadow did not reach Taoris. “I’m not sure. I thought I was, until this day came. I did not sleep much last night.” She shook her head slightly. “I kept imagining possible outcomes of failure.” “You won’t fail. That’s why I’m here.” “I don’t doubt your ability, of course. Rather…” The young princess sighed, and a cold winter breeze tossled some of her brown hair over her shoulder. “I am afraid. Never have I felt so alive as when I envision how this campaign will advance my dreams, but standing here, looking over the city that I am helping… Realizing that this city and all of its people could be in the palm of my hand by this time tomorrow…” Vainia looked down at her open palm, and shivered. “It’s not enough anymore, to just think and plan what I want. Now that I am actually on the path to achievining and conquering, I know that mere dreams will never be enough for me again. The drink of the stars has spilled all over me and drenched me with its wild, powerful contents. I can no longer sip from the chalice of mere mortals.” During the course of her speech, Taoris found himself walking closer to his queen, looking down at her with narrowed, awed eyes. Vainia heard his movements, but did not turn back to look at him, nor did she let her shoulders lower with vulnerability. He raised a large, vein-covered hand, and let Vainia’s wind-strewn hair flow over it. “My own ambition is the most frightening feeling I have ever endured,” Vainia whispered. At the return of his liege’s voice, Taoris flinched and drew his hand back, as if wounded. “This dream of yours is so fascinating,” he allowed through tight lips and narrowed eyes. “I… It has been so long since I have felt anything like this. So many years…” “Do not misunderstand me,” Vainia retorted, still quiet but with every bit as much power as she usually spoke with. “My hatred has not faded. If anything, it only sharpens the blade I will use to carve into Inusia’s power.” “So you do not actually want to command Phenicks at all, then?” “Of course not. It is a means to my end. As you said, I need forces and men in my name before I can hope to take down Inusia. This will suffice as a start.” The Crimson Death chuckled and walked forward, allowing his bulky forearms to rest on the rusted metal railing of the tower that Vainia leaned on. “Your very presence fills me with a sort of warmth I’ve only before found within the entrails of others. Your future is brighter than the sunsets I can never escape from.” Vainia looked down, but smiled. “Thank you, my Knight… I suppose?” He nodded, and stiffened. Vainia glanced over to the tall man, but his face was completely enshadowed; he turned away slightly, and she could tell that his mood had immediately dropped. “I meant what I said. You have my swords, and my service. I will etherize history and shove you within its innards, if I must.” “I know. And in return, you will rise to eternity with me. If there is ever anything else I may repay you with, you need only say it, and it will be done. You know that.” “Nothing. I need nothing but the bloodshed that will surely follow you in your journey. Only that, and… your nobility. Your ambition. Your hatred. Embrace it, forever.” The sun finally rose to its full height, and the air was quiet and melancholy. A final breeze blew through the air before slowing and eventually stopping. Beneath the two scions, the clock tower burst into bells tolling for noon. Vainia breathed heavily and her chest heaved with emotion. “My Knight. I am ready.” ***** With a slight shuffle, Santus heard the sound of two cloaked people arriving at his side. Standing in the backroads of Phenicks’ main street, he and Charlie, along with newly arrived Vainia and Taoris, were all armed and standing in prepatory attention. Almost a mile ahead of them, the sounds of rebellion and warfare burst through the usually quiet Shorican air. “It’s time, comrades,” Santus said after a moment of reflection. “Our first steps have already been taken. We move towards liberation.” “Then let us take the next one, with confidence,” Vainia commanded. Santus nodded in agreement and started to walk through the deserted cobblestone streets. The three agents of Fifth Brine followed him silently, their swift strides leading them closer to the destruction ahead of them. As was expected, the Fifth Brine rebels-turned-soldiers had been met in the middle of the main street by a legion of hidden Inusian soldiers. They were most likely not going to make it anywhere close to the city hall, at least not quick enough to stop the appointment of the Inusian-chosen governor. That was just as Vainia planned; the fact that they had caused a diversion and drew away most of the bluecoats was all that needed to be done. Just a few steps into their solemn walk, Taoris suddenly paused and whirled his head, the motion throwing the hood off his unruly crimson mane. The others stopped as well, put on alarm by Taoris’ movement. “My Knight? What is the problem? Is someone there?” “…No,” Taoris muttered after just a moment. “I thought there was. I did not see anything, but I felt movement.” He stood to full height again, his hands lowering from the hilts of the swords on his waist but his eyes still searching the neary rooftops. “Come on,” Santus urged. “We don’t have much time. I don’t want everyone out there to get slaughtered.” He turned around and continued his advance towards city hall; with some reluctance, the other conspirators followed. Within minutes, the party of four had arrived at the ominous capitol building that presided over the rest of the city on a natural hill. Since the beginning of the day, the sky had been taking an ominous move towards calm weather that was out of season for the area. Winter had begun only a few weeks before, shortly prior to Vainia leaving Zeta Academy, and in coastal Shorica it was common for rain or snow to occur constantly. But now the sky was calm, the winds had slowed to a crawl, and dark clouds had started to gather in the eastern skies. None of the rebels paid it much attention, but Taoris could not help but realize that a storm was likely incoming from the lack of activity in the heavens. As the group moved towards the tall, white stone capitol building, the tallest member stepped ahead, lightly grasping the arm of his queen. Taoris looked down at his charge and gave her a reassuring yet concerned gaze, one that felt almost out of place in his hard features and usually sneering eyes. “This air makes me uneasy. Let me take first point,” he requested. He looked down to Vainia’s eyes for approval, which she relinquished with a curt nod, but to the others in the group it was clear he was commanding. Not for the first time, the two armored rebellion members looked at themselves and questioned the origins of the strange partnership in front of them. “I feel exactly the same, my friend,” Vainia agreed. Darting a hand beneath her cloak, she unsheathed her rapier in a clean and quick motion and held it in front of her, staying a few paces behind Taoris as he moved towards the capitol. “Sir Santus, I predict that the Inusian guile which has caused you so much trouble in the past is at play here. We must be ready for anything.” Santus walked behind Vainia with his chest out and his rifle held strongly against his breast, but Charlie whimpered behind his master. “I thought you said this plan was fool-proof,” Santus recounted. “How is it that we are walking into a trap?” “It would be better to be prepared than taken by surprise. They could possibly be accouting for the change in efficiency that Fifth Brine has recently gone through. Regardless, this air is… intimidating.” “It sounds to me like you’re afraid.” Vainia paused, her shoulders flinching but her pointed blade unwavering. Taoris looked back to Santus with a dark glare, but his old friend deliberately did not meet his gaze. “You would dare…” “No, Taoris,” Vainia interrupted. “It is fine.” She glanced back at Santus with even more fire in her green eyes than Taoris held in his entire body. “I will show him how fear affects me, and I will show him with success.” The commanding officer of Fifth Brine made no reply to her statements, and his assistant meekly nodded. No further discourse occurred in the next minute that passed before the four arrived at the tall marble steps leading into the capitol building. The Crimson Death waltzed up to the closed door, not a smidgen of self-preservation in his swagger, and kicked it clear off its hinges with little effort. With the power of his attack, the tall slab of wood smashed through the foyer and slammed into the wall behind it. The force shattered the mirrors hanging next to the door’s impact spot. Vainia snorted softly as he walked into the place. ‘There goes stealth.’ Whilst he looked around the area and inspected the door that led further into the large building, this time without any kicking, Taoris’ hands did not even drift to his sword handles. “I sense no one here,” he growled to Vainia. Soon he began to express clear confusion at the fact that every room in the luxuriously furnished government building was empty. “All the desks are empty,” Charlie said as he ran through most of the offices and conference rooms. “Bathrooms, closets, meeting rooms… They’re all empty, sirs.” Taoris looked disappointed at the intern’s news, and Santus appeared perturbed. Santus confirmed this himself as he looked around for discarded papers and occasional footprints. There were none to be found; the entirety of the building’s back half was scrubbed clean, impeccably so. In stark contrast, the sounds of unorganized warfare droned out outside, ceaselessly. While they continued to search the expansive area as a whole, it was becoming clear to the group that there was no one in the building at all. “I don’t understand,” the leader of Fifth Brine said with desperation heavy on his shoulders. “Did they flee? Where could they all have gone?” “If this is a trap, it’s an odd one,” Vainia said with her lips tightly bitten. “It’s not like Inusians to flee from a situation they would undoubtedly dominate in.” After almost fifteen minutes of intense searching, only one room remained in the entire first floor of the eerily unoccupied building. Every atrium was empty, every office, everything except this final chamber. The large atrium in the right side of the building still stood unchecked. It stood equidistant from the front and back entrances, and in times of peace, it served as the governor’s main office. “I am completely sure that the governor and the senators would not flee. They must have known we were going to riot, but they could not have known we were going to infiltrate their building,” Vainia said as her free hand fiddled with her long hair pulled into a single ponytail. “They must be in this chamber.” “Then it is undoubtedly a trap,” the leader said with a clenched jaw. “They must have soldiers in there, or explosives, or anything to keep us out. They, too, were prepared for the worst.” The group was now standing in front of the last door, Taoris posted upon the wall and the others watching from a slight distance. Santus coughed and made clear his dissension with the thought. “It just wouldn’t make any sense for them to lure us this far; a potential trap could have had the same effect if done a lot earlier. If anything, it would have been easier to catch us off guard that way. Even easier would have been a full shoot out, using the walls as a stronghold.” He looked around as he spoke; the walls of the building were old, solid stone, which would make shooting through them difficult, if at all possible. “I don’t understand at all. Why haven’t any of the Inusians returned to the building yet? Where is everyone? Just yesterday our spies reported this place as fully packed and functioning.” Vainia gave a vindictive snort and made a short swipe in the air with her rapier. “I know how nobles think, and they are much too prideful for that. They’re here and they’re waiting for us. I am sure of it.” Taoris cleared his throat with Vainia’s words and rested one hand on a sword hilt that protruded from the dual scabbards strapped to his waist. “Shall we enter, then? This calm of no conflict is beginning to have me on edge.” His appearance, rough and wild as ever, did nothing to disprove this. He looked through the group and was surprised to find a withering glare from Santus. The commanding officer gave a grunt and looked at the closed door with finality. “There’s nobody left in there. Trust me, I would be able to see if they had all walked into this same room, and we would have definitely heard them in there. But if you are feeling a bit soft today, Taoris,” Santus persisted with an increasingly venomous tone, “I will take point instead. Just to give you two a little reassurance.” He stomped forward and took a dominant hold over the handle of the door, glancing back and nodding towards Charlie as if to recruit him onto his way of thinking. The cloaked man did not take kindly to this sleight and began to eagerly clench his sword hilts. “This day has you repeating your old ways, Santus. My queen has mandated that your ideas are false. Don’t make her say it again.” His guttural growls were enough to terrify Charlie, whose rifle almost fell from his hands, but Santus was a stronger man and bravely looked Taoris in the eyes. “That’s enough, Taoris.” With three words, Vainia snatched her knight’s attention and relieved him of most of his aggression. “Santus is the leader of this operation, so in the end he has final jurisdiction on our action plans. Let him enter first if he so wishes.” Santus noted with some irritation the holier-than-thou tone she spoke with, but he had learned to grudgingly deal with it over the brief time they had known each other. Once again, she spoke with complete control of the situation and an upturned nose that signified her almost effortless grace under pressure, but inside he knew she was just as anxious as the rest of them. The complete lack of resistance so far had taken its toll on them all. Collectively, the group held their breath as Santus paused in front of the door. He hoisted his large rifle in the crook of his arm and gave a look at Charlie in order to check if he still had a semblance of testosterone in his body. Of course Charlie did not, according to his pale face and white knuckles around his gun’s handles. Santus shook his head slightly and pushed open the door in a fast and smooth motion. Immediately the room slammed them all in the face with an awful stench of death. Just as Santus predicted, no living enemies awaited them inside the atrium, because nothing inside of it was alive. Hundreds of corpses were packed into the chamber, haphazardly and gruesomely. Both Charlie and Vainia looked away in horror upon getting a good glimpse of the pure mayhem. Entrails and gore were wildly strewn about the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling. No cadaver was left unattended by the whirling chaos. Unnatural wounds plagued every victim, with various crumbling limbs and organs splattered about with no regard for decorum whatsoever. Charlie vomited within seconds. Santus was frozen in fear and looked about with uncertainty. “It’s like… It’s like the entire room is stained bright red…” As he spoke, an arm stuck to the ceiling slowly separated from its skin and a combination of bones and blood splashed onto the floor. “Who could have done this? What sort of monster did this to so many people?” His voice, usually full of bravado and righteous power, had never before sounded so meek and unsure. Tears began to sprinkle on the officer’s eyes. Gin Taoris was perhaps the one least affected by the desolation within the room’s walls. He pushed Santus to the side slightly and looked into the perverse palace of destruction. His eyes widened for a moment as he looked over the devastation, but besides that emotive he gave no other reaction. Instead, his eyes went to the large windows in the back of the room. “What the hell is that?” Boldly, Taoris took a step into the dungeon of gore, and then another. His armored boots squashed various parts into a further paste as he walked to the windows with no hesitation. “Hmph.” Gripping his cloak in one hand, he began to wipe away the blood and viscera that coated the window, and a satisfied grin unconsciously slid across his face. Besides himself, he began to giggle slightly. Vainia stepped to the side of Santus and gingerly entered the room herself as the other two still stood outside. “Taoris, now is not the time to indulge in your morbid hobbies!” She shuddered and looked around in unease. The room was beyond a doubt the most disgusting display of depravity she had seen in her entire life, but seeing it only filled her with revulsion; something else was making her feel fear, and her rapier started to slip in her sweating palms. “This is more than a simple massacre… Something is amiss here.” Santus groaned in mourning. “I can’t even identify if the governor is a part of this mess. Could this have been a trap they set while they escaped? Are these all innocent office workers, slaughtered to confuse us? Where is the liberation in this?!” Suddenly the Knight’s dark chuckling stopped at the same time that Charlie’s retching did. The sudden absence of sound, especially in Taoris’ direction, proved to be striking enough that it drew the attention of the other three infiltrators. At the same time that the room fell into silence, the outside world seemed to freeze, and all sounds of warfare halted. Now that Taoris had cleaned off the glass window with his inspection, and received his sadistic titillation from it as a bonus, all of those still living within the expansive room were able to see the world outside clearly. The far-off sky was visible, and the uneasy stillness it had boasted before had vanished. In its place were dark clouds gathering ominously, and a glint of light far from the east on the horizon. Vainia felt her heart drop and her body freeze with fear – so she started to cast the only rune spell she still had memorized. Her rapier audibly dropped to the ground as her hands started to glow in magical light. Only Taoris thought to look over at her from this disturbance, and with widening blue eyes he recognized the light that radiated from the young princess’ hands. Behind him, the light point from the east grew ever larger. In less than a second its appearance had grown exponentially, and as soon as Taoris turned around, the incomprehensible light eclipsed much of the Shorican sky. Taoris instantly jumped over a destroyed desk in front of him that was piled high with corpses, landing right in front of Vainia, who jumped at his incredibly fast actions. He landed light on his feet, and both Charlie and Santus looked over to him with confusion. They did not move. By now, the light took up all of the sky, and the darkness of the encroaching clouds was purified by what appeared to be white divine fire. The room grew hot, its temperature rising at least ten degrees within one tenth of a second. Vainia’s focus was interrupted by Taoris’ superhuman speed, and her summoning of rune chains was flawed. Instead of snaking around her body as a protective coat, they shot forward from her hands and instantly coiled around all of Taoris, who pushed her backwards to a bloody wall and stood over her, as if to protect her. Although her spell had failed to protect her body, Vainia knelt down and continued to cast it, deciding in an instant to use all of her power and faith on Taoris’ ability to guard her life. All of their preparation had occurred in less than two seconds. Charlie and Santus had yet to move. ‘I trust you,’ Vainia realized as she looked into Taoris’ determined, icy eyes. Neither of them had time to speak, but his command for her to stay put was as implicitly understood as Vainia’s statement of reliance. Right then, the speeding light made its complete domination over the room and all of the air around it. The cosmic fire was everywhere, searing and burning and melting everything without mercy, searing stone to disintegrating flesh within seconds. To Vainia, it took over her entire world, burning and burning without a sound. Unlike any other moment of silence she had ever endured, the silence that occurred from the light was complete, as if her ears suddenly stopped working. If she hadn’t covered Taoris’s body with reinforced magical chains – along with the space between him and the three walls around her – Vainia was sure that she would have ceased to exist, just as her hearing did. And yet just as soon as it had rained down on the city, the light was gone. Her hearing returned first, and Vainia’s ears were ringing painfully. Next she allowed her eyes to open, slowly, and she held her hands out still out of fear. She soon found that keeping her spell active was absolutely necessary, or her Knight would have been completely destroyed. He stood over her completely naked, every ounce of hair, clothes, skin, and muscle seared off in the various parts of him that her runes did not cover. A wall-like structure of chain links had supported and held onto him, and now, seeing the horrific state that her Knight was in, Vainia bid these extra chains wrap around Taoris and lay him down. She imagined that he could not move. The princess did not even bother to look around her as she laid down the Knight. Leaning forward and bending over to look him over, she checked frantically to make sure he was still alive. With instant relief, she saw that his chest still heaved with breath, albeit slowly and almost imperceptibly. One of Taoris’ eyes and both of his earrs had melted and ran down his face, smoldering the chains, but one eye still remained and looked straight ahead, dazed. Vainia stood in direct eye contact of the sole remaining eye, hoping to catch some glimpse of consciousness within the man’s senses. After a second, the eye seemed to focus on Vainia. His jaw had melted off and his bottom jaw bone had fallen to his neck, but still Taoris chuckled. ...End of Part Twenty. <- Previous Page | Main Page | Next Page ->